The only rule for survival in Ireland is: Hear nothing, see nothing, know nothing.

In the villages and on the mountains of County Tyrone, in the heartland of the Provisional IRA's most active Brigade, the golden rule is 'Hear nothing, see nothing, know nothing'. To collaborate with British Intelligence is to invite an inescapable death sentence.

But there is word on the mountain that inside the Brigade there is a 'tout', an informer. He will be identified, interrogated, tortured, then hooded and shot.

Gary Brennard, the MI5 field agent, and Parker, who runs the informer, have to protect their man at all costs: he is the critical asset to hold on to until the stakes are high enough... and if the innocent step into the crossfire, that's just bad luck.

"Finely written with tension, action, suspense, atmosphere and topical authenticity" - Sunday Telegraph

"The pace is relentless... With such writing, Seymour deservedly ranks among today's top thriller writers" - Sunday Express

"A dark, rainswept novel, full of excitement and the vicious amorality of patriotism" - The New Yorker

"It's many years since I have been so gripped by a thriller" - Daily Telegraph